WASHINGTON,
DC (February 26, 2014) — Today, The Climate Reality Project along with
partners Environmental Defense Fund, Organizing for Action and Sierra Club
announced the delivery of more than 120,000 citizen comments to the White House
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in support of a strong Social Cost of
Carbon (SCC).

“Right
now, carbon polluters are using our atmosphere as an open sewer, and it’s
costing all of us– in disaster clean-up, altered growing seasons and public
health impacts,” said Vice President Al
Gore, chairman of The Climate Reality Project. “The carbon calculus needs
to accurately reflect the high cost we’re all paying for the damage done to our
planet. The Social Cost of Carbon is a vital step in doing just that.”

What
began as a small, technical matter fought hard by fossil fuel interests and
their champions in Congress was brought to the fore by a group of organizations
dedicated to quantifying the dramatic costs of carbon pollution on the daily lives
of all Americans.

EPA
and other federal agencies use the SCC to estimate the climate benefits of
rulemakings. The SCC is an estimate of the economic damages associated with a
small increase in carbon dioxide pollution. After careful scientific analysis,
the current estimate was increased to $37 per metric ton of carbon pollution. Under
pressure from fossil fuel supporters, OMB opened up its SCC calculation for public
comment.

“Exxon,
Duke Energy, DuPont, General Electric, Walmart, and many other major
corporations are incorporating a carbon price into their long-term planning.
It’s only logical for the U.S. government to do so too, and to set policy and
regulations based on it. Calculating the true social cost of carbon is an
important first step in that process,” said
Gernot Wagner, EDF Senior Economist.

"With
increasing extreme weather, rising sea levels and other threats linked to
climate change looming, it is clear that carbon pollution comes with a cost. We
need a Social Cost of Carbon that reflects that reality," said Ivan Frishberg, Climate Change Campaign
Manager, Organizing for Action.

“Carbon
pollution threatens our health, our families, our communities, and our economy.
As we decide how to power our nation and consider the effects of carbon
pollution on our nation and our families, in the form of superstorms, drought,
and increasingly erratic weather, the choice before us is clear. We can
continue relying on expensive, climate-disrupting power plants or we can
replace these dirty fossil fuels with clean, cheaper renewable energy that
doesn't destabilize our climate,” said Michael
Brune, Sierra Club executive director.

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About the Climate
Reality ProjectThe
Climate Reality Project is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated
to mobilizing communities to act on climate change. With a global movement more
than 5 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Reality
Leaders, we are spreading the truth about what’s happening to the planet and using
cultural momentum to solve the climate crisis. Former Vice President and Nobel
Laureate Al Gore is the Founder and Chairman of The Climate Reality Project.
For more information, visit www.climaterealityproject.org or follow us on
Twitter at @ClimateReality.

About
Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental
Defense Fund (edf.org),
a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions
to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law
and innovative private-sector partnerships. See twitter.com/EnvDefenseFund; facebook.com/EnvDefenseFund

About Organizing for
ActionOrganizing
for Action (OFA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to
advancing the policies that the American people voted for in
2012. In just eleven months, more than 4 million volunteers have
taken action through Organizing for Action. As a grassroots funded
social advocacy group, OFA is committed to tipping the scales of power back to
the American people instead of special interests in Washington. OFA
is working to advance policies like job creation, strengthening the middle
class, gun violence prevention, comprehensive immigration reform and measures
combating climate change that a majority of the American people support. More
information at www.barackobama.com.

About Sierra ClubThe Sierra Club is America’s largest and most
influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million
members and supporters nationwide. In addition to creating opportunities for
people of all ages, levels and locations to have meaningful outdoor
experiences, the Sierra Club works to safeguard the health of our communities,
protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots
activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation. For more information,
visit http://www.sierraclub.org